ci111r1•n~ (LXX. ), which was the sta~ of mat. extended townrds tho Euphrates (Kalisch)-- tcrs in vor. 12. Hore the snn, which was and the Hittites,-the dcscendl\nts pf. Heth then setting, is de.scribed as having set-and (vitk eh, x. 15); identified with the Khota it was dark,-literally, and darl,,"1UJss 'I/Ja$ and Kntti of the Egyptian and .Assyrian i. e. a dnrkncss that might be felt, as in ver: monuments, and supposed by Mr, Gladstone ) 2 : certainly not <1>Xo( ,y,v,ro (LXX.), 11.'! to be the Kheteians of the 'Odyssey;' a power- 1r there were another flame besides the one ful Asiatic tribe who must have oady estab- specified in the description-behold a smok• lished themselves on the Euphro.tes, and ing fnrnaco,-the "l~~c\, or Orient.al furnace, spread from thence southward to Canaan hnd the form of II cylindrical .fire-pot (cf. and Egypt, nnd westward to Lydia and Gesenius, p. 869 ; Keil in loco)-nd a burn- Greece, carrying with them, towards the ing 11;-mp-a lnmp of fi_re, or fiery torch, shores of the ..Egcan Sea, the art and culture cmergmg from the smokmg stove ; an cm- of Assyria and Babylon, already modified by hlcm of the Dinne presence (cf. Exod. xiic. the forms and conceptions of Egypt. Th~ 1S)-that passed between those pieces-in .northern capital of their empire was Car- ratification of tlie ~ovcn~nt. chemish, about sixteen miles south of the Ycrs. 1S-21.-In that day tbe Lord made modern Birejik ; and the southern Kndesh ~ cove1!'ant-1itemlly,_ cut a covenant (cf. on an island of the Orantes (Prof. Sayce i~ 0 o«a ,,µ,•nv, fredus were). On-the import 'Frli.zcr's Magazine,' August, 1880, art. 'A of Tl'"!f •11ule ~h. ix. 9)-with Abram, saying, forgotten: Empire in Asia Minor ')--and th(I Unto thy seed have I given this land, from Perizzites, and the Rephaima (vide eh. xiii. the river of Egypt-the Nile (Keil, Kurtz 7 ; xiv. 6), and the Amorites, and the Hen~tcnberg, Kalisch) rather than th~ Canaanites, and the Girgaehites, -and the Waay el Arish, or Brook of Egypt (K=bel, .Tebusites {vide. eh, x. 16-19). The bound- Lange, Clarke), at the southern limits of the aries of the Holy Land as here defined are country (Numb. =xiv. 5; Josh. xv. 4;.Isa. regarded. by some (Bohlen) as·. contradictory xxvi.i. 12)-u.nto the great river, the river of those designated in Numb.. xxxiv. 1-12. Euphrates. The ideal limits of ·the Holy But (1) the former may be viewed e.s the Land, which were practically reached under ideal (or poetical), and the latter as the Dand auu. Solomon (vide l Kings iv. "21; 2 act!lal (and prosaic), .limits of the couptry Chron. ix. 26), and which embraced the fol- assigned to Israel (Hengstenbreg, Keil) ; or lowing subject populations, ten in number, (2) the. former may represent the. maxima, "to convey the impression of universality and the Jatter the minima, of the promise, without exception, of unqualified complete- which admitted of a larger or-a smaller fµlfil- ness" (Delitzsch). The Kenites,-inhabiting ment, 11ecording as Israel should in the sequel the mountainous tracts in the south-west of prove fit for its occupation (AugustinA, Per- Palestine, near the Amalckites (Numb. xx:iv. erius, Willet, Poole, Gerlach, Kalisch, and 21 ; l Sam. xv. 6; =vii. 10); a people of others) ; or, (3) according to a certain school uncertain origin, though (Judges i. 16; iv. of interpreters, the former may point to the 11) Hobn.b, the brother-in-law of Moses, was wide extent of country to be occupied by the n Kenite-and the Kenizzites,-mentioricd Jews on occasion of their restoration to their only in this passage; a peop1e dwelling ap- own land, as distinguished from their fu-st parently in the same region with the Kenites occupation on: coming up out of Egypt, or (Murphy), who probably became extinct be- their.second on-1·eturni:ng from Babylon; or tween the times of Abraham and Moses (4) the rivers may be· put for the countries (Dochart), and cannot now be identified with which the promised land was coterminous (Keil, Kalisch), though they have been con- (Kurtz, Murphy) ; or (5) ,strict ~cographical nected with Kena.z tlie Edomite, eh. xxxvi. accuracy may not have "been· mtendcd in 15, 42 (Knobel)-and the Kadmonites,- defining the lim_its of the land of promis, nevcr a,,.-.ain referred to, but, as their name (' Speaker's Commentary,' lngli~) .. • implies, an Ea.,tcrn people, whose settlements
HOMILETICS. Ver. 18.-Taken into covenamL I. TnE BLESSING OF THE COVENANT. 1. The ultimate blessing, to which, in both the commencement and close of the present section, the prominence is assigned, was a splendid inlieritance-the land of Canaan for hie descendants, and for himself the better country, of which that ~arthly posse11- sion was a type. 2. The medwte blessing, through which alone the las.t· cou}d be reached, w;i.s a distinguished seed-a numerous posterity to occupy the lanq, and a 1iving Sa.viour to secure for himself the better country. 3. The proximate ble~oing, to be enjoyed wl,ile as yet tl1e second and the third were unfulfilled, wn.s r1, celestial alliance by whicli Jehovah himself engaged to be his sliiclu and e:1:cec<ling greut OS. XV. 7-21.] 'fHE BOOK OF GENESIS. 223